Album anniversaries: Three records to celebrate in January 2024

Album anniversaries: Three records to celebrate in January 2024 - Copyright Rock Action - Virgin - Reprise Records

Published on 04/01/2024 - 07:40

From moody instrumental landscapes to lush French pop and punk-going-mainstream, here's our pick of the three albums celebrating a major anniversary this month.

Every month of 2024, Euronews Culture takes a trip down memory lane and handpicks a trio of albums celebrating a major milestone.

These are the three records you should choose to (re)discover as they respectively turn 10, 20, and 30 this January.

Turing 10 in 2024: Mogwai – Rave Tapes

(Release date: 21 January 2014)

Since their stunning debut album ‘Mogwai Young Team’ in 1997, Glaswegian post-rockers Mogwai have been consistently weaving the most entrancing, sweeping and epic instrumental tapestries. Their sound has grown more and more ambitious over the years, and 2024 marks the 10 year anniversary of one of their most underrated albums, their eighth effort ‘Rave Tapes’.

Don’t be fooled by the title – this isn’t the soundtrack to an EDM-fuelled night or an early 90s garage house extravaganza. Granted, it did see the band diving further than before into electronic-driven sounds, but the end result was a feverish collection of tracks that tipped their hat more towards Mogwai’s love of Kraftwerk, and sounded like a soundscape perfect for a 70s giallo horror film or a delirious video nasty. Hardly surprising really, as the band had just released the creepy soundtrack to the excellent French TV series Les Revenants the year prior.

The pulsating rhythms, the analogue synths and the looping keys still make ‘Rave Tapes’ a gem in their discography, with tracks like opener ‘Heard About You Last Night’, ‘Remurdered’, ‘Deesh’ and ‘No Medicine For Regret’ managing to instil a palpably eerie mood. Is it as strong as 1999’s ‘Come On Die Young’ or 2001’s ‘Rock Action’? Probably not. However, it’s definitely an album that deserved more love in 2014, and ten years later, you’d be foolish not to give it its due.

Also turning 10 in January: James Vincent McMorrow’s terrific sophomore effort 'Post Tropical'.

Turning 20 in 2024: AIR – Talkie Walkie

(Release date: 27 January 2004)

French duo Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, aka: AIR, hit it big in 1998 with their debut album, ‘Moon Safari’, which featured the hit songs ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ and ‘Sexy Boy’. Operating at the crossroads between spacey French electro and easy listening pop, the band hard a hard time following their debut, with their second studio album, ‘10 000 Hz Legend’, proving to be somewhat of a disappointment – especially after their glorious first foray into movie soundtracks, with 2000’s The Virgin Suicides.

‘Talkie Walkie’ was not only a return to form after the dreaded sophomore slump, but added a sense of delicate melancholia to their lush sounds.

Produced by Nigel Godrich, this may very be their most dreamy and re-listenable album to date. ‘Cherry Blossom Girl’ is AIR at their dreamiest; ‘Alpha Beta Gaga’ at their happiest; ‘Alone in Kyoto’ at their loveliest. The latter was included on the soundtrack of Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation, and in many ways, 'Talkie Walkie' could have been the actual soundtrack to her film. Synch ‘em up – you’ll see. It works. And if you’re not in the mood for that, kick back, put on a decent pair of headphones, and (re)discover this glorious album as it turns 20.

Also turning 20 in January: Sia’s 'Colour the Small One'.

Turning 30 in 2024: Green Day – Dookie

(Release date: 28 January 1994)

Let’s face facts: Green Day haven’t had the best decade. Their last album, 2020’s ‘Father of All Motherfuckers’ was an unmitigated train wreck, and since 2004’s epic ‘American Idiot’, the band have been struggling to stay relevant.

2009’s ‘21st Century Breakdown’ was a bloated mess; the glorified B-sides triptych '¡Uno!', '¡Dos!', '¡Tré!' was a waste of everyone’s time; and 2016’s ‘Revolution Radio’ didn’t leave much of an impression. They return this year with their fourteenth album ‘Saviors’, and hopes are high that they can pull it out of the bag and have another Greenaissance like in 2004.

When it comes to the band’s best album, you’ll find people arguing over three titles: ‘American Idiot’; 1997’s ‘Nimrod’; and their third album, ‘Dookie’.

The first is a solid shout. The second is the correct answer. The third is where you’ll find the most consensus, as ‘Dookie’ properly defined the trio and launched them into the stratosphere.

A more radio-friendly outing than their 1990 debut ‘39/Smooth’ and the following year’s ‘Kerplunk’, every track on ‘Dookie’ had the potential of being a single and brimmed with unbridled energy and fun. Whether it’s ‘Longview’, ‘Welcome to Paradise’, ‘She’ or ‘When I Come Around’, these were self-deprecating anthems and deceptively clever songs that remain an authentic testimony to the band’s punk credentials. And then there was ‘Basket Case’, a single that defined an era for many, and whose question “Do you have the time to listen to me whine?” was howled by an entire generation. And 30 years later, the answer is still “Yes”.

So, if ‘Saviors’ continues the band’s downward spiral, you can at least celebrate ‘Dookie’s continued resonance as the moment punk convincingly went mainstream.